The History Of Anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism, a hatred of Jews, has been present for centuries in many places. However, the term ‘Anti-Semitism’ itself only came into use in the nineteenth century, and along with it came an ideology which fuelled this deep psychological hatred to develop into a political movement which culminated in Nazism. Throughout history, the reasons for Anti-Semitism have differed and in Imperial Germany, it was a combination of religious, racial and political factors which led to such hostility toward Jews. However, the economic state of the nation is often thought to be the main reason behind the way in which Jews were treated during this period.

Under the 1871 Constitution which united Germany, it was forbidden to discriminate on the grounds of

It was this that sparked prejudice and racism throughout much of Europe, and led to Jews being treated as second class citizens. In Imperial Germany, religious factors were still of great importance to people. The largely Protestant population would obviously have seen Judaism as something strange and out of the ordinary, and the fundamental beliefs of Judaism would have conflicted with those of Christianity. Some religious preachers, such as Stocker, made it their responsibility to save Germans from ‘Jewish evils’ such as Marxism, and were openly Anti-Semitic. Although his radical ideas were dismissed by many of the educated middle classes, they gained precedence when backed up by scholars such as Treitschke. Pius IX himself taught that Jews were ‘enemies of Jesus’. However, even he had included economic considerations in his argument, saying that they had ‘no God but their money’. Therefore, even behind seemingly religious reasons for Anti-Semitism there is an underlying economic factor. Similarly ‘evil’ capitalism, was allowed only in Judaism and not in Christianity, and was what caused the growth of Anti-Semitism in 1873; religious preachers said that these Jews were trying to swindle hardworking Christians out of their money, and it was their religious rules which were allowing them to do so. Another reason why

These new Jews were even more different to the average German, and it did not help matters that they brought cholera to the country in 1892. In other words, these Jews were not hated because of their actual religious beliefs and actions, but because of Germans’ unwillingness to accept diversity. This lends itself to the wider debate of racial Anti-Semitism vs. religious Anti-Semitism. Due to the phrase Anti-Semitism being coined by a ‘secular Anti-Semite’, Wilhelm Marr, it is reasonable to conclude that the rational side of Anti-Semitism was perhaps more important a factor than the irrational side was. Due to the growing popularity of Darwinism and other such scientific theories, people began to believe in the superiority of the Aryan race. The move to scientific Anti-Semitism made it even more difficult for Jews to assimilate; they could be as German as they tried, but would always be treated differently because of their ancestry. Jews could not win either way, as they were told to become more like everyone else and when they did become upstanding members of German society, they were resented for it. Ultimately, Jews were not hated for what they believed or did, but simply because they were Jews. Anti-Semitism was just a symbol of right-wing ideology and a code word for all that was hated by conservative Germans, from socialism to liberalism, and ‘hatred of